Tuesday 27 July 2010

MUSIC: SANDY DENNY BOX SET 2010

I've been finding out more information about this massive box set of Sandy's which, correcting the previous entry, will be released this October. Amazon's price is currently £149.99, actually a tenner higher than the official price, but a Sandy Denny blogger and source of more information about this set believes the price will drop as the pre-orders come in. Suppose I should add mine and starting saving my pennies; I can always cancel at a later date.

This is from the record company's official release:
"This superb limited edition box set includes 19 CDs, 11 of which feature Sandy's complete studio recordings with Alex Campbell, Johnny Silvo, Fotheringay, Strawbs, Fairport Convention and solo with additional content – outtakes, demos and live recordings. There are 8 CDs of bonus material – unreleased songs, demos, unreleased BBC recordings, alternate takes, live recordings, acoustic versions, and rare radio interviews. This set includes the legendarily 'long lost' Lord Bateman.

Lavishly packed, this unique collection features all new artwork. It comes with a 72 page 11" square hardback book containing over 100 rare and mostly unseen photographs, Sandy's handwritten lyrics (many of which are unrecorded songs) and fascinating memorabilia. Each CD is housed in an individual gatefold digipack sleeve. The box also contains reproductions of a beautiful original Island press pack, an exceptionally rare A3 promo colour poster for Northstar Grassman And The Ravens, a set of Postcards, the receipt for the purchase of her first piano and one of Sandy's handwritten notebooks."

The compiler, Andrew Batt, adds:
“I have been working on this boxset and have compiled the tracklisting, which will be released soon.
I think the way to look at it is, if there wasn’t substantial high quality unreleased material then this boxset wouldn’t be happening. Aside from two new songs – Lord Bateman and Twelfth Of Never – there are amongst other things demos for the whole Sandy album and most of Northstar that are exceptional and which fans will love. If you like Sandy in a more stripped down setting then this boxset will delight you! It is amazing that so much unreleased stuff has surfaced over the years, but after going through literally every master reel, this is really it!
I would estimate that there is 15-20% unreleased material, and remastered versions of things like All Our Own Work, Swedish Fly Girls that have never been on CD. All the previous bonus stuff will be included as well, and will also make their digital download debut.
The whole project has been a real labour of love and aims to represent Sandy’s complete legacy.”

I've signed up to a list so I'll get an email with the full track listing in when it happens. In less than 24 hours I've gone from not getting this to pre-ordering it. I'm mad, but I've loved Sandy Denny's voice since the beginning of the 70's so how can I resist?

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